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Article THE FREEMASONS' LEXICON. ← Page 11 of 11
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The Freemasons' Lexicon.
the nature of things . They took a God—au eternal and perfect being —as the first cause of all things , but they placed in opposition to him , according to a Dualistical principle most widely extended amongst the orientals , an equally eternal but imperfect material . God hath , they further maintained , created other more or less perfect beings ( Aeonen ) , but which , in the course of time , revolted from him , and by one of whom the Demiurg ( creator of the world ) the world and mankind were
created . All the evils in this world took their origin from this Demiurg , as also the spiritual soul which is within us , through which we feel and live ; near which soul there also dwells another soul , originating from the light of God . So long as man follows his sensual desires , he is under subjection to tlie Demiurg ' s ; virtue alone elevates him to God . In order to banish sin from the world , and deliver mankind from the Demiurg , and to lead him back to the worship of the Most High ancl
only true God , an Aeon ( Christ ) took a human body . But this body was not a true body , therefore they could not say that Christ had really suffered all the pains which his biographers relate ( from whence they derived the sectarian name of Doketen ) . They acknowledged the divine inspiration ofthe Old Testament , but they allowed themselves to make considerable alterations in the New Testament . Kerintb , an Egyptian Jew of the first century , was the author of this error , which was extended in the second century after the birth of Christ by Cerdo and Marcian , and which continued until the end of the third centuryj when it was superseded by an error quite as Dualistical as itself , called
Manichaeismus , ancl over those disturbances first changed that which was originally a mere business , into that which we now call Free-Masonry . The worthy brethren who were not operative Masons united themselves more closel y to each other , retaining , it is true ; the ancient customs of the Builders' Huts , but separating more and more from the common and less educated workmen . After the beheading of Charles I ., they adopted the party of the persecuted
Stewart . The Lodges in Scotland in particular were much attached to the exiled King James II . and the English Lodges for the accession of Prince William of Orange . We must not make this into a subject of accusation against Freemasonry , for the princes of the land stood at the head of both parties as Brethren . On the restoration of peace the number of Lodges was not great , and they employed themselves in such subjects as were calculated to promote the general welfare of
mankind . To be the more able to propagate their principles , four Lodges in London united themselves on the 24 th June , 1717 , and formed a Grand Lodge , with a Grand Master at their head , and took upon themselves the form of an Order . The extension of Freemasonry was now extremely rapid in all countries . It came into Germany through France , although England had already erected some Lodges . In many statesboth in and out of EuropeFreemasonry has been much respected
, , , and'in many others willingly tolerated , and so it is still , and that without danger to either Church or State . To attempt to derive Freemasonry direct from the Egyptian and other ancient mysteries , from the Temp lars , or from the Crusaders , would be either a morbid craving for a long pedigree , or an unsupported hypothesis . '" . ; . ;¦ .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Lexicon.
the nature of things . They took a God—au eternal and perfect being —as the first cause of all things , but they placed in opposition to him , according to a Dualistical principle most widely extended amongst the orientals , an equally eternal but imperfect material . God hath , they further maintained , created other more or less perfect beings ( Aeonen ) , but which , in the course of time , revolted from him , and by one of whom the Demiurg ( creator of the world ) the world and mankind were
created . All the evils in this world took their origin from this Demiurg , as also the spiritual soul which is within us , through which we feel and live ; near which soul there also dwells another soul , originating from the light of God . So long as man follows his sensual desires , he is under subjection to tlie Demiurg ' s ; virtue alone elevates him to God . In order to banish sin from the world , and deliver mankind from the Demiurg , and to lead him back to the worship of the Most High ancl
only true God , an Aeon ( Christ ) took a human body . But this body was not a true body , therefore they could not say that Christ had really suffered all the pains which his biographers relate ( from whence they derived the sectarian name of Doketen ) . They acknowledged the divine inspiration ofthe Old Testament , but they allowed themselves to make considerable alterations in the New Testament . Kerintb , an Egyptian Jew of the first century , was the author of this error , which was extended in the second century after the birth of Christ by Cerdo and Marcian , and which continued until the end of the third centuryj when it was superseded by an error quite as Dualistical as itself , called
Manichaeismus , ancl over those disturbances first changed that which was originally a mere business , into that which we now call Free-Masonry . The worthy brethren who were not operative Masons united themselves more closel y to each other , retaining , it is true ; the ancient customs of the Builders' Huts , but separating more and more from the common and less educated workmen . After the beheading of Charles I ., they adopted the party of the persecuted
Stewart . The Lodges in Scotland in particular were much attached to the exiled King James II . and the English Lodges for the accession of Prince William of Orange . We must not make this into a subject of accusation against Freemasonry , for the princes of the land stood at the head of both parties as Brethren . On the restoration of peace the number of Lodges was not great , and they employed themselves in such subjects as were calculated to promote the general welfare of
mankind . To be the more able to propagate their principles , four Lodges in London united themselves on the 24 th June , 1717 , and formed a Grand Lodge , with a Grand Master at their head , and took upon themselves the form of an Order . The extension of Freemasonry was now extremely rapid in all countries . It came into Germany through France , although England had already erected some Lodges . In many statesboth in and out of EuropeFreemasonry has been much respected
, , , and'in many others willingly tolerated , and so it is still , and that without danger to either Church or State . To attempt to derive Freemasonry direct from the Egyptian and other ancient mysteries , from the Temp lars , or from the Crusaders , would be either a morbid craving for a long pedigree , or an unsupported hypothesis . '" . ; . ;¦ .